ARSENAL are on the cusp of kickstarting their summer spending, with not one, but two players set to be confirmed in the coming days.

Portuguese left-back Nuno Tavares could be unveiled as early as today (Thursday) after finalising his switch from Benfica. The athletic 21-year-old, who possesses good crossing and passing ability and likes to get forward, will reportedly cost the Gunners in the region of £6.8million. The Portugal Under-21 international is seen as the perfect back-up for Kieran Tierney, who recently penned a new five-year deal.

Arsenal are also confident of agreeing a deal for 21-year-old midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga from Anderlecht.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has made little secret of the fact that significant changes are needed to his squad this summer. But his plans are being held up by the European Championships.

With Switzerland securing a place in the quarter-finals, Granit Xhaka’s proposed move to Roma is still pending. It is thought Xhaka will eventually join up with Jose Mourinho in a deal that will add around £17m to Arsenal’s transfer kitty.

Arteta is also waiting for England’s involvement at the Euros to come to an end so that the north Londoners can complete a £50m deal for Brighton defender Ben White.

Jonas Eidevall. Photo: Anders Henrikson

Meanwhile, an “ambitious” Jonas Eidevall took over as Arsenal Women’s new head coach.

The 38-year-old Swede succeeds Joe Montemurro, who left the club this summer to “take a professional break”, only to end up in charge of Juventus Women. Eidevall joins from Swedish side Rosengard after helping the Malmo-based club reach the quarter-finals of last season’s Women’s Champions League.

“I’m absolutely delighted over this opportunity, coming into such a big club at such an exciting time,” he told Arsenal’s official website.

And looking ahead to his debut season, Eidevall added: “We’re going to compete in the Women’s Champions League and do our very best to reach the final, we’re going to compete in the league, we’re going to compete in the domestic cups, and we’re going to do it our way.

“We have something good within this team.

“At the best of times they’ve played brilliant football and we’re going to continue to do that.

“We need to do some small, small changes in order for us to start performing a little bit better and beating the top teams when we play them.”